Isn’t it wild how quickly the glow fades? One year, you’re “QB Jesus” with a cannon and a mullet; the next year, you’re sitting there on Day 3 of the draft, watching cats like Mertz Graham get picked before you. No cap, the fall-off was nasty. Quinn Ewers, the golden boy of Texas football, got scooped by the Miami Dolphins with the 231st pick, seventh round, last week. Like, how do you go from being the chosen one to praying your name even gets called?

Let’s break the ice: Ewers fumbled an $8 million bag. Straight up. Before he declared the word on the street, Big Ten squads were waving fat NIL checks in his face, ready to hand him the keys. But the No. 1 recruit chose legacy. Loyalty. He left millions on the table thinking he’d go higher in the draft, like 3rd or 4th round. Bad read. Maybe the worst audible of his career. Now? He’s sitting’ on a $4.33 million rookie deal that screams “developmental backup” instead of “franchise face.”

So where’d it all go left? It starts with the health. Ewers never finished a season fully healthy. In 2024 alone, he was fully good for just three games. Rest? Ankle sprain here, UCL tear there. You simply cannot make a positive sentence with Quinn Ewers and mobility. The scouts took notes, and none of it said “durable.”

On April 30th, Bruce Feldman kept it a buck on the Rich Eisen Show. When asked if Shedeur Sanders’ fifth-round slide or Ewers’ free-fall to QB13 shocked him more, Feldman said, “It’s Shedeur being taken where he was. I was always skeptical whenever I’d hear somebody go, “Oh, Quinn may be like a second-rounder. Some teams like him, maybe a third-rounder.” I had always heard he was more like a fifth-round guy.” Boom. There it is.

Ewers low-key wasn’t built like Carson Beck. He didn’t have the mobility tape, the nose for $4 million, or the clean bill of health. Yes, Carson Beck got banged up; that’s exactly why he didn’t opt for the draft. Carson sat back, healed up, cashed in, and now he’s reaping the rewards in Miami—with a starting gig in sight. Ewers? Just a QB3 in the 305 behind Tua and Zach Wilson, hoping for a shot in the most distracted city in the world.

Rich Eisen pressed Feldman again: Why didn’t he just hit the portal, or wouldn’t Miami have taken him over Beck? Or why not chase other $7-esque offers? Feldman said, “I think he was done with what he was doing at Texas; I don’t know if they would’ve taken him over Carson Beck. Now Carson Beck was coming off a shoulder injury, but I think in terms of physical talent—if you ask people in football circles—yes, Carson Beck was considered a guy who could have been a first-round pick. He’s got a really quick release, he sees the field well, and I think he’s played really well in a lot of big games against a lot of really good defenses.”

Bruce doubles down on the truth bomb: “They were also concerned about his durability—he’d never finished a full season healthy. And I think that’s the challenge. There were some other things in the evaluation where they were like, “Okay, these are things that are concerning with him,” right? I don’t think they saw any wow traits in him. He’s got a good arm, but the athleticism is a big concern. So I thought he was probably in that fifth-round range to begin with. In fact, to go from fifth to seventh is much different than to go from second to fifth.” 

And now? His NIL valuation from On3 sits around $4.5M. Could’ve been $8M easy with a healthy, ball-out year in the Big Ten. Instead, he locked in a four-year, $4.33M rookie deal that’ll barely match what he made at Texas. In fact, Ewers made close to $6M in college already. So yeah, the drop from a potential $14M to $4M? That’s a painful loss.

Steve Sarkisian backs Quinn Ewers

Quinn Ewers might’ve flopped the draft bag, but back in Austin, he’s still solid with the folks who mattered. Steve Sarkisian isn’t letting the media twist the narrative on his guy. “I feel for Quinn. He was a great player for us. I think about a lot of the people who have come into this program over the past four years that have impacted the growth and the trajectory of our program, and he’s right there near the top, if not at the top.” Sark said, defending Ewers’ legacy. And he’s right. Two straight Playoff semi-runs, over 9,000 passing yards, and 68 touchdowns—Ewers was anything but a bust at Texas.

Sark threw more shade on the haters, saying, “I think it’s ironic that so many things are written and talked about the players from a negative standpoint, that transfer schools or stay in school to take more money…All of a sudden, here’s a guy that said, ‘I want to leave a legacy at Texas. I want to go play in the NFL.’ Now they’re knocking him for not taking the money in college”. And honestly? Facts. The same folks screaming about loyalty when players transfer are now clowning Ewers for staying put. Pick a lane.

But still, the what-ifs hit hard. Imagine Quinn at Oregon, slinging lasers in that blur offense under OC Will Stein. Or at USC with Lincoln Riley scheming him into a Heisman run? Tennessee was out here begging for a QB since Nico said ‘Adios’. The $5-8M was real. The hype would’ve returned. Instead, he stayed, got banged up, and watched 12 other QBs pass him.

Look at Cam Ward. Cam stayed another year, cleaned up, and now he is the No. 1 pick. Carson Beck took the same route—rest, reload, and hopefully rise up the board and go top draft pick next year. Quinn Ewers? He hit go too early. Now he’s the 13th QB off the board, behind Mertz Graham and Shough. It’s funny how Mertz Graham got over Ewers, especially since he wasn’t QB1 in his final season.

Still, let’s not bury him just yet. The Dolphins aren’t a death sentence. Tua’s health is always shaky, and Zach Wilson’s leash ain’t long. If Ewers gets a preseason moment, he could steal the show. The Texas gunslinger got touch, a pretty good arm, and that “it” factor that made him the No. 1 recruit in the first place. It’s just going to take grind, patience, and a whole lotta luck.

Yeah, Quinn Ewers made a business decision that cost him about $7.2 million. But you can’t say he ain’t stand on what he believed in. Legacy over loot. NFL over NIL. Loyalty over hype. He bet on himself. And that’s either brave… or boneheaded. Either way, it’s his story now. So when you see Ewers warming the bench in Miami this fall, don’t just laugh. Remember the kid that threw bombs in burnt orange, rocked a mullet like a crown, and said, “I’m good on the easy route.” ‘Cause if that chip on his shoulder ever meets opportunity? The league might just get a rude awakening.